Banks ‘don’t offer impartial debt advice’

High street banks in the UK have a conflict of interest that means they are unlikely to offer entirely impartial debt advice, it has been suggested.

A spokesperson for Debt Free Direct claims that creditors are likely to advise their customers to take action that would benefit their own business and not their indebted client.

The spokesperson maintains that while there is nothing improper about banks offering debt management advice, consumers should be aware of whose interests their advisors are likely to be serving.

“If you are advising your customer who owes you money what they should do, it must be strongly incentivised to do what’s best for your commercial interests,” he said.

“There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s hard to see how they could ever call that impartial advice.”

An increasing number of people in England and Wales are approaching their local Citizens Advice bureau about debt-related problems, according to the organisation’s latest figures.